Posted on November 22, 2011
Chalk it up as another banner quarter for Devicescape. On the heels of growing to over 4 million hotspots globally, Devicescape just released its Q3 2011 Wi-Fi report. What’s interesting about this quarter’s report is that I’m seeing some wavering in service provider loyalty. Being a long-time Verizon Wireless subscriber myself, I assumed that most people were like me and would be resistant to carrier switching. Unless of course it’s a hardware matter such as getting an iPhone but that has become irrelevant since Verizon now carries that smartphone. Data capping has become more and more of a subscriber concern over the last year with major carriers announcing intentions to get rid of unlimited data plans. Although the reality is that most people don’t come close to the proposed plan caps, the idea of taking away consumer value from their plans is perceived as a hit to the consumer experience. In the Devicescape report, 88% of respondents said that unlimited data plan offers would sway purchasing decisions. If the mobile operators want to avoid carrier switching, they better come up with some solutions and educate their subscribers. Data usage is only going to increase over time as rich content such…
Posted on October 21, 2010
On a quarterly basis Devicescape partners with friends in the industry to tap into our consumer base to better understand their wants and needs. This last quarter, Devicescape partnered with Eye-Fi, the creator of the world’s first wireless memory card and a Devicescape Easy WiFi customer (thank you Eye-Fi). One of the items we wanted to ask about this time was the issue of data capping of cellular data plans. We figured that in light of all the recent news around this hot topic—AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon are all talking about data capping and tiered pricing—we should hear from our users. Wow! What a response: the majority of respondents (77.9 percent) would consider switching service providers if their current plan was data-capped. Clearly it’s a contentious issue. Almost 79 percent indicated data capping would impact their use of applications (particularly, and unsurprisingly, how much video they stream). Some other highlights: Almost 91 percent of respondents feared their service providers would pass along to them costs associated with data traffic surges. A majority of respondents (61.2 percent) indicated they would not pay a premium price for an unlimited data plan. Still, a fair number of respondents (38.8 percent) indicated they would…
Posted on May 25, 2010
AT&T announced yesterday that they’re creating a WiFi “hotzone” in Times Square, NY. While there is speculation that this might be linked to the upcoming launch of the 4th gen iPhone, which is rumored to make video calls only over WiFi, I think it’s simply indicative of the mega trend towards WiFi offload and free (or bundled) access. There’s always been a lot of free WiFi around, but now we’re seeing it being embraced strategically by the big networks, in locations where many people are concentrated. Corporate altruism? Perhaps. More likely a way to push out good services, especially multi-media, to users without devastating the cellular infrastructure or requiring billions of new dollars in new investment. It’s great to see WiFi pushing to the fore as a strategic complement to cellular. Our recent WiFi report highlighted that users understand 3G and WiFi and want them both, together! But, it’s clear that WiFi as a service complement will only work if it’s as reliable and easy to use as cellular, and that’s where WiFi still has a long way to go. Here at Devicescape we’re very energized by this trend as our specialty is automating the WiFi experience. We completely support…
Posted on November 6, 2009
It’s been a busy few weeks here at Devicescape and we haven’t had the chance to write until now. On October 20th we announced our own hotspot network called, simply, the Easy WiFi Network. We launched a brand new web portal at easywifi.com to eventually replace my.devicescape.com and released a new version of the iPhone OS app via Apple’s App Store. This week we followed up with upgraded apps for Nokia devices via Ovi, and a brand new platform – Android – on the Android Marketplace. And, we produced new versions of the PC app for Windows 7 and a new version of the Mac app for Snow Leopard. Whew! This new version is a HUGE change for Devicescape. For the last two years we’ve built a loyal following of users who use Easy WiFi to connect to their hotspot accounts. We now support over 1200 different hotspot providers, ranging from commercial providers like AT&T to university campuses (go AirBears!) Right now we’re managing around 400,000 connections per day with our little utility. Pretty cool. But, of course, we’re always thinking of ways to improve our products, so we decided to take it to the next level by going beyond…
Posted on September 9, 2009
Devicescape is currently hiring for two new positions. The first is a manager of mobile products engineering. This is a key position which owns our client apps, so you need to meld great leadership with a passion for consumer centric mobile products. A track record which shows you’re way better than any of us will be expected! You’ll have a small but very talented team to help and a strong partnership with our server people. The second position is for a build and test engineer, to help ensure our products work well and can be produced efficiently. You’ll need a good grasp of technology, but also a strong sense for how users perceive usability issues with products. More information on these can be found on our careers page. Come make Devicescape and Easy Wi-Fi better!
Posted on July 14, 2009
In my post a few weeks back I announced that we intended to begin charging for our Nokia S60 application. On further reflection we’ve decided to revisit this decision and instead make all of our consumer clients free. Part of this decision was based on our challenge with iPhone OS 3.0, documented by John in the posts below, and leading us to make Easy Wi-Fi free in Apple’s AppStore. I also have to admit that Ovi seems like a much less effective vehicle for paid application distribution than we hoped, so the benefits of frictionless (ie free) distribution outweighed any consumer revenues. So, effective immediately, all our apps on the various platforms are free of charge, with the notable exception of those distributed via Nokia Download which will still get the $4.99 “try-before-you-buy” version. Thanks for all your support in the past and we hope you continue to enjoy using Easy Wi-Fi.
